NaLu: All the Letters of Love
by Ayumu Foxtail-chan
Summary: A collection of one-shots revolving around our favorite Fairy Tail couple: Natsu and Lucy. 26 little one-shots for each letter of the alphabet, some might be fluffy, some might be angsty, and some might have some humor. (B-Backbone- He had to admit she had some strength to stand up to the lion for that long. Maybe he could take a note from her book and get some courage of his own.)
1. A- Adaptation

**Hi there! I've seen so many of these alphabet challenges, and how cute they are, that I just had to try one for myself. And of course Natsu and Lucy are my absolute favorite pairing, so why not them? I kinda just opened a dictionary and picked a word so this one is completely random.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**

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_~Lucy was sure she was never going to get used to the newfound attention.~_

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_**A-Adaptation**_

Lucy swore she was never going to get used to it. Whether it was the excited squeals from Mira every time she and Natsu would walk into the guild, the teasing looks from Levy, or the shiver that would sweep down her spine when he randomly took her hand in his. She was never going to get used to it.

But right now, it was Mira's squealing that was causing her to flinch and reconsider entering the guild today. Maybe she should just stay home for a few days, relax, read a few books, and let all this "Natsu and Lucy" stuff blow over. Although if she knew her guild mates as well as she thought she did, it wouldn't blow over for a long long time.

Their Dragon Slayer had finally found a girl, and they all seemed ecstatic.

Lucy hadn't expected the reaction they had gotten when she and Natsu had first walked into the guild, hand in hand with smiles on their faces. They'd been extremely close for the entire time she had been with Fairy Tail, so in a way she wondered if they'd even notice. She had been so close to Natsu as a partner and a friend that she honestly wondered if some people thought they were already dating. But all of her thoughts about how they would react calmly were thrown out the window the instant those guild doors opened.

They had been swamped with a crowd of excited members, questions and excited whistles roaring out in the building. Lucy had jumped a mile; somehow able to resist the urge to clap her hands over her hears. It was deafening.

_"You two are holding hands!?"_

_"What happened?!"_

_"Did you two finally get together?!"_

_"Natsu and Lucy! I never thought I'd see the day!"_

_"You two are so cute!"_

_"Congrats, Natsu!"_

_"I'm surprised he could even feel an emotion like love. Nice one, Lucy! You're talented if you got this dense idiot to recognize his feelings!"_

Natsu of course had yelled at Gray for what seemed like hours after that comment. A guild war had broken out again, chairs and glasses flying everywhere as Lucy and Levy stood off to the side, watching the pile of fighting men (and Cana) from the edge, unamused looks on their faces.

And from that day onward it continued on the same way. Lucy could never spend any time in Fairy Tail without the girls teasing her and giggling to themselves, and the men patting her on the back in congratulations and sending a cat call her way. Of course the cat calls were meant in celebration, but Natsu never took them that way.

Lucy wasn't sure if she thought it was cute or a little hazardous when Natsu would stand up quickly, yelling out an 'oy' to whoever had whistled at her. It was cute, yes, exactly how possessive he was, and something about those times when he would defend her, or start a fight out of jealousy would make her blush. But it was also hazardous, and she had to apologize to Makarov on multiple occasions for the sudden increase in damages done to the building due to Natsu's almost constant fight with someone over something they'd said.

But all of that mess was overridden by her immense happiness. Lucy couldn't remember a time when she hadn't been in love with Natsu. Maybe the first day she'd met him, when he'd eaten like a pig, and distracted her from the fake Salamander. But from the instant he saved her on that boat, carting her off to Fairy Tail afterwards, she'd helplessly fallen, and hadn't exactly wanted help to get up.

She was in love with the dense one, as so many of the people called him. She was pretty sure every single person in the guild knew that she liked him, all that is except for Natsu himself. And although it frustrated her that every time she tried to show him how she felt, he'd stay up on his little cloud of oblivion; she wouldn't have it any other way. That was Natsu, the one she'd fallen in love with, even if it was far beyond exasperating.

She'd tried everything. She'd set up dinners for them, hoping maybe he'd figure out somehow she saw it as a date. Instead he ended up eating the restaurant out of food and complaining to the waiter that it was too dark. She'd dressed up in her most revealing outfit she could imagine, hoping that maybe something primal in him would be activated. Instead he had frowned, telling her she was going to be cold if she didn't put on something with more fabric. She'd pulled out every trick up her sleeve she could think of, and he hadn't picked up on it even once.

So she'd decided to give up. About a week ago she'd decided 'to hell with it'. He was oblivious, that was Natsu, that's who he was, and she couldn't change that, no matter how much she wanted to. So she'd resigned to a life of helpless fawning over a boy that only saw her as a friend.

And the next day was when it happened. Lucy wasn't sure if it was a coincidence, or if Natsu had been waiting for the day that she stopped trying so hard, but either way she was glad she'd finally given up on trying to get him to recognize how she felt, because he did it on his own. All on his own. Oblivious little Natsu had felt the feeling of love, for her, all on his own.

He was perched on her bed, his eyes flicking around the room erratically and his face beet red when she'd come home. It was a normal site, and it didn't surprise her, however his nervousness did. Usually he was stretched out on her bed snoring away with his little blue cat snoring almost as loudly next to him, but that day he was sitting on the edge, his feet tapping and Happy nowhere to be found.

Before Lucy'd had the chance to ask Natsu what was the matter he'd sprung up from her mattress, grabbing both of her arms and yanking her into a hug. She'd stood, petrified in his grasp, her eyes wide and her heart hammering away in her chest. She'd been confused. Why was he hugging her? He'd never hugged her like this before. Oh Mavis did someone die? Her thoughts spiraled helplessly in her head as he stayed still, his warm breath hitting the top of her head in little puffs and his heart pounding against her own chest.

Once again before she had the chance to ask him what was going on, he beat her to the punch. He'd stuttered and stumbled over his words for a while before taking a deep breath and blurting out, _"I like you, Luce. Like… love you, Luce."_

Lucy swore her entire world came sputtering to a halt after those two sentences. She'd dreamed of him saying that more times than she could even count and yet she'd never predicted it would actually happen. He loved her. Those feeling she had for him, he had for her.

After the hug ended, a very long conversation commenced. Lucy and Natsu talked about everything. They started at the beginning, Lucy telling him she felt the same, and asking him why he had told her now. It turned out little dense Natsu wasn't so dense after all, and had felt that way about her just about as long as she'd felt that way about him.

Their conversation took a waltz down both of the paths they had taken. Lucy told Natsu about all the things she'd done in hopes of getting him to notice, and Natsu had told her about how he had misinterpreted them. Those dinners that she nonchalantly invited him to, he believed were meant for someone else, and she had brought him as a backup. When she'd dressed up in her revealing outfits he noticed them, yes, and was more than a little afraid that other men would see her that way, but he'd never thought about the possibility that they were for him.

He also told her about exactly how afraid he was to confess to her, and she had had to work very hard to keep from laughing. She knew Natsu had no need to be nervous to tell her how he felt, but apparently he had been shaking in his boots for the nearly months now that he'd been trying to get up the courage.

After they had seemingly talked about everything regarding their newfound relationship, they turned to other topics. Lucy had climbed into bed next to Natsu and they'd stared at the ceiling, talking about everything from childhood memories to what kind of dressing they liked on their salads. Lucy had never had a heart to heart conversation with Natsu like the one she'd had that night. She'd never felt as close to Natsu as she had that night, after they confessed their biggest dreams and most crippling fears.

And the next morning when they'd walked into the guild, their fingers intertwined and a contented smile on both of their faces was when all of the excitement started.

Even though it'd been a week, nothing had changed. If anything, Lucy believed that her guild mates' exhilaration had gotten even louder. At first she was embarrassed, but after a while it just came to be a little bit of an annoyance. So much teasing and congratulations and noise, all over their relationship. Sometimes she wished she could just drag Natsu into a little compartment where they could finally have some peace and quiet and time to themselves. To make matters worse, Gray and Erza seemed more than happy to stay at the guild, and weren't clamoring for any jobs, which meant staying in the guild even longer. The thought crossed Lucy's mind of going on a job with Natsu, however he seemed just as happy to stay at home in the guild than go out on a mission.

She'd told herself to get used to it, to adapt to the noise and conversation about them. It was going to be the new normal, however she just couldn't. And now, as Mira skipped happily toward the door, a larger than life smile on her face, Lucy sighed to herself. She was never going to get used to this.

"Hi lovebirds," Mira chirped happily, "You two hungry?"

"Starving!" Natsu replied, marching after Mira as the white-haired barista turned on her heel, mentioning that she'd be out with food in a bit.

Lucy was dragged helplessly behind Natsu, her hand still firmly in his grasp as he stalked over to their usual table and plopped down, patting the seat next to him. She obliged, sliding into the seat and trying to avert her gaze from any of the other members.

Erza, Gray, and Levy were sitting at the table. Erza polishing one of her swords, Gray eating away on a plate of pasta Mira had already given him, and Levy staring dreamily over at Lucy and Natsu. And of course Juvia was standing in the background, cheering _'Gray-sama'_ on because _'he could eat pasta faster than anyone!'_.

Levy sighed, "You two are lucky. Lu-chan, you must tell me how you got him to recognize his feelings. Gajeel could use some help with that." Lucy gave her a sympathetic smile as the blue-haired female peered over her shoulder at her Dragon Slayer in the corner, his lip curled as he took a bite into a sheet of iron, his eyes holding some sort of amusement as he watched Natsu bounce in his seat, eagerly awaiting his meal.

"I'm sure he will soon," Lucy smiled, "I was sure Natsu was never going to realize a damn thing, but he came around. I think this one is more oblivious than that one," Lucy said, jabbing a finger at Natsu first, and then Gajeel.

Levy sighed again, "I sure hope so."

Mira sauntered up to their table a second later, placing a heaping plate of spaghetti in between Natsu and Lucy. "It's all we really have today," she said, wiping her hands off on her apron, "Enjoy it you two!"

Natsu shrugged, diving into the plate of pasta hand-first without taking the time to grab his fork.

"Oy, Salamander," Lucy heard Gajeel grunt from the corner, "You have a girlfriend now, eat a little more lady-like," he smirked, chuckling to himself.

Natsu stopped mid noodle slurp, his eyes flicking to Gajeel's corner. "What was that?" he asked, his words slurred pitifully because of the pasta.

Gajeel shrugged, "Just sayin'. Your masculinity'll be out the window soon; I wouldn't be surprised if you two lovebirds came in wearing matching sweaters tomorrow." Gajeel shamelessly guffawed at his own joke then and Natsu's eyes narrowed. Lucy shrunk a little in her seat. Here he went again.

Natsu stood up from the table abruptly, the plate jumping on the table due to the impact. "Why don't you get over here so I can kick your ass! I'll show you what masculinity is, you pansy!"

Gajeel then shoved out of his table with a shout and Lucy knew for sure they were going to start a guild-wide fight again. Levy shrunk a little lower in embarrassment too.

Natsu marched out from the table and into the center of the guild, just in time to hold up a finger in remembrance and quickly jog back over to Lucy's side. He bent down, giving her a quick peck on the cheek and grinning to himself in pride. "I don't really like sweaters but if you wanted to wear matching ones I guess I could give it a try," he said, nodding to her before promptly dashing back out into the guild and sending a blast of fire Gajeel's way.

Lucy blinked, her back straight as a board as she watched the fight, her mind eons away. He'd kissed her. Granted it was on the cheek but still; he'd never done anything like that before. And it felt wonderful.

She couldn't help but smile and blush to herself as she brought a finger up to touch the place his lips had met her skin. She thought she wouldn't be able to get used to the guild's excitement? Well, she just found one thing that she thought would take much longer to adapt to.

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**So there it is! I hope you liked it. A is for Adaptation. Haha. I had a sadly fun time writing this. XD**

**So what did you think? I'd absolutely love to hear what you thought of it, it's always fun to hear what other NaLu fans like. So let me know, I don't bite! :D**

**Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful week!**

**~Foxtail-chan**


	2. B- Backbone

**Hi there! Here comes the letter B for this alphabet challenge. I just want to say real quick that all of these will be individual one-shots unless otherwise stated. In other words, they're completely separate stories. **

**And going against all that I just said, B and C will be part 1 and part 2. So basically all of them are standalones normally, but the letter C will be a continuation of this. If that makes any sense.**

**Disregard me and my ramblings and enjoy!**

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_~He had to admit she had some strength to stand up to the lion for that long. Maybe he could take a note from her book and get some courage of his own.~_

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_**B- Backbone**_

Gray's laugh was really annoying him. Not that it didn't normally annoy him, but today it seemed even more grating. Natsu scrunched his nose and glared over at the ice bastard with hate. Usually he would snap at him to shut up, followed by a very prompt fist-fight, but today he didn't have it in him. Because starting a fight would mean taking his eyes off of the intriguingly sickening sight across the room.

Natsu snorted in irritation before turning his gaze back to the scene he'd been watching for the past hour. _An hour. _Loke'd been at it for _an entire hour. _

Natsu snarled to himself as he watched the lion smirk down seductively at the blonde sitting on the barstool next to him. He reached down toward Lucy, placing a finger underneath her chin and tilting her head to look at him. Lucy frowned before smacking his hand away and muttering something which Natsu couldn't hear. Gray let out another round of guffaws at this.

Natsu's hand clenched into a fist, "Would you shut it?" he asked impatiently, his eyes flicking to Gray and then back to Loke. The lion hadn't been deterred in the least, instead leaning in even closer.

Gray snorted, "Why, you don't find this entertaining?" he asked, gesturing over at Lucy as she glared at Loke before lightly pushing him away from her.

"No," Natsu replied shortly. No, he didn't find this entertaining. He found it beyond annoying. This act that Loke had was getting old. Very old. The lion hit on his master every day, and because he was strong enough to summon himself, he didn't leave when she told him to. Instead he stayed, taking her rejection easily and trying again.

"Aw c'mon, Flame Brain, this is hilarious. Look at her face… look at _his _face!" Gray let out another laugh, leaning back in his seat and laughing at the ceiling.

Natsu frowned deeply. Those two things were what was bothering him. Loke was so smooth, so romantic; he could so easily sway women, and so that look on his face was really getting on Natsu's nerves. He hadn't paid much attention to Lucy's expression, mainly because he was a bit afraid he'd find some sort of compliance. How long could she take the continued assaults before she gave into him? Natsu was afraid it wasn't much longer.

And for some reason that made him angry. Why was that? Was he angry because Loke was basically pestering Lucy into dating him? Was it because Natsu, as Lucy's friend, wanted her to date someone because she liked him, not because she wanted the guy to leave her alone? No, that wasn't it. Natsu didn't like it because he couldn't do what Loke was doing, and it killed him inside.

Of course the Dragon Slayer would never admit it. He couldn't charm women; it just wasn't something he did. He knew that if he tried he'd probably make a fool of himself and that was the _last _thing he wanted to do with the guild watching, so he had kept to himself.

He wanted to get up the courage to walk over to Lucy and talk to her like Loke was. Tell her how pretty she was and that he wanted to take her out on a date. Yes, those were the things he wanted to say. But he had never done so, his inexperience with women and his crippling fear of being rejected always keeping him away.

So instead he kept as her friend and partner, glaring from across the guild whenever Loke would pop up out of thin air on Friday nights, holding out his hand and asking his master, whom he called _'Princess' _if she wanted to have dinner with him. Every single Friday night he would appear, and every single Friday night Natsu would sulk.

Lucy had never accepted Loke's offers, and for that Natsu was grateful; but he wasn't sure when that defiance would come to a close. Eventually she'd give into him, wouldn't she? They were close, very close, and Natsu figured that somewhere maybe _he_ even thought they would be good together.

He clenched his teeth. Maybe they were good together, but surely he was better. _He_ was the closest to Lucy, and so surely _he_ was the best suitor for her. But instead of gaining the courage to ask, he sat, watching as his only chances slowly spiraled down the drain. If she gave into Loke before he ever bit down his pride and asked her, he would have lost before he even began.

A few times he'd stood up with confidence, his fists clenched at his sides as he stalked toward her and that lion. He had visions of shoving Loke away and asking Lucy the exact same question the lion just had, except she accepted his offer and had declined her spirit's. Yes, Natsu would ask Lucy out on a date right in front of Loke and she'd accept and he'd have won.

But when he'd hit the halfway point across the room he'd chickened out. Sure he could ask her, but he could never ask her like Loke did. Loke'd brush a chunk of hair out of her face, caressing her cheek before proposing in a husky voice that they should get out of there and do something more exciting. Natsu didn't know how to do that. How would he even go about coming up with something enticing like that?

He'd gone over options in his head, none of which sounded quite right. _'Hey Luce, get out of here.' 'Let's go someplace darker, I can't see you.' 'Wanna go get dinner, it's hot tonight.' _Nothing ever sounded right, his words and phrases jumbling with each other until they no longer made any sense.

So even if one day he got the courage to walk over there and ask her, he wouldn't be able to get the words out. He had no idea how to romance a girl, and if he went over there and made a fool of himself, he worried Lucy would laugh. She would laugh and then agree to go to dinner with Loke after she realized what bumbling idiots other guys were. That would be the worst.

Gray let out another round of laughs and suddenly Natsu couldn't handle it anymore. Without taking his eyes off of Loke and Lucy at the bar he stretched out his right arm, punching Gray square in the cheek. The ice mage tumbled off of the bench and Natsu couldn't help but smile to himself at the thud he heard. It had sounded painful.

"Oy," Gray groaned. Natsu could feel him scrambling to his feet beside him but didn't turn, his eyes instead narrowing at Loke's latest advance. He'd touched her lips. She'd violently smacked him away, shouting a nearly incoherent, _"Wh-St-Why-St-Don't do that!" _Natsu was glad that she had again rejected him, except her stumbling made him think that maybe she was just embarrassed.

Natsu froze. He'd never thought about _that _before. Maybe Lucy was telling Loke 'no' only because she was embarrassed. Maybe she really did like him but was too bashful to admit it. That added another layer to Nastu's worry and he collapsed face-first onto the table with a groan.

Gray plopped down on the bench next to him and glared down at the back of his head. "What's with you?" he asked, "Making fun of Loke's rejection is great; you should try it."

Natsu shook his head slowly, "Dun wanna," he sighed, closing his eyes. There was a long and suspicious pause from the idiot beside him and he began to worry. What was Gray thinking? Silence was never a good thing.

After a few minutes he heard an amused snort from the ice bastard. "You're worried she's gonna give in, aren't you," Gray sneered.

Natsu shot up in his seat and glared over at Gray. It was true, but he'd never admit it. Although Natsu figured that his furious expression had given him away as Gray's sneer grew into a full-blown smile. Natsu briefly noticed that Gray had somehow lost his shirt between the time he'd faceplanted into the table and now. Now was _not _the time for stripping.

Gray's smile faded as he shook his head in what looked to be exasperation, "Don't worry, man. Look at her," he said, sloppily gesturing over to the bar.

Natsu followed Gray's gaze hesitantly. She looked the same as she gave Loke a disbelieving look as he once again tried to swoop in for a kiss. "Yeah, what about her?"

Gray sighed, "Does that look like the face of a girl who wants to go on a date with him?"

Natsu squinted at Lucy's face, "I don't know. Is it?" he asked quickly, looking back to Gray with a sense of panic. Natsu knew he didn't know much about romance, but was he really dense enough to not recognize enjoyment. He thought Lucy looked a bit annoyed but maybe to others she looked like she really liked Loke. That would be the worst.

Gray gave him a disbelieving look before shaking his head, "No, you idiot, she looks like she wants to throw herself off a cliff. She doesn't like him like that, calm down."

Natsu frowned at Gray, "Okay, say she doesn't. Eventually she's gonna give into him. He's been pestering her about dinner for an hour already and he isn't showing signs of stopping," he hissed, "She's gonna hit her limit soon."

That was when Gray burst out laughing again, that bastard. "Give Lucy more credit," Gray chuckled. "She's got backbone. I think he'd have to mess with her for much longer than a few hours before she would give in."

Natsu eyed him carefully with suspicion. Was the bastard serious, or was he just deceiving him? He squinted at Gray harder and the ice mage shrugged. "Whatever, don't believe me. Just sayin' she's stronger than you'd think."

Natsu's gaze wandered back to the blonde at the bar who had her cheeks puffed out and her hands on her hips as she glared up at Loke. Maybe Gray was right. Maybe she was strong enough to stand up to Loke for a long time, maybe even forever. But that still didn't help with the fact that he didn't have a backbone of his own. Maybe she had one, but he didn't.

Almost as if Gray had read his mind, the dark haired male spoke up. "Hey, she may reject him, but if I were you I'd give it a shot. It's worth a try."

Natsu didn't look back at Gray; out of embarrassment over the fact that he really _did _want to approach her, or because he was afraid of the mocking look he'd inevitably find on the ice mage's face, he wasn't sure. He'd never listened to Gray in the past, he shouldn't now. But he couldn't deny exactly how much Gray's words were making sense. He should just do it. Don't think too much about it; just do it.

"Hey wait," Natsu heard Gray say quickly as he stood up from his seat abruptly. "What're you doing?"

Natsu looked down at his rival and smiled a bit, "Taking your advice. If this goes badly, I'm blaming you." He turned on his heel and began stalking over toward the bar. He'd blame Gray if she said no or if he stumbled over his words and made a fool of himself. He'd blame the ice bastard externally, but he'd beat himself up internally. But that didn't matter. What mattered was that he was going to actually do this, and do it now.

He stomped over to the bar, words and ways to ask Lucy swirling around in his head. He barely even noticed it when Loke looked over his shoulder as he heard Natsu's loud stomps, instead shoving the lion out of the way once he had reached the bar and steeling his gaze against Lucy's surprised eyes.

"Natsu?" she asked, blinking twice.

He took a deep breath to steady himself, and instead of trying one of Loke's fancy tactics, he tried his own. He told her straightforward. "Lucy, have dinner with me."

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**So there it is! B is for Backbone. Whether it's Natsu's or Lucy's backbone is up to you. Haha! I hope this one was easy enough to understand; it was a bit all over the place. XD**

**So yeah, C will be the part two to this one-shot, so technically a two-shot. Haha!**

**Let me know what you thought of it, kay? I'd love it! And thank you so much for the lovely reviews and whatnot last chapter! They make me so happy!**

**~Foxtail-chan**


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